In the past, various sources of fuel have been used to provide an energy source for, for example, an internal combustion engine. For vehicles, gasoline, diesel fuel and other forms of fuel have been used or developed as an energy source for the internal combustion engine and for similar engines such as the diesel and rotary engines. In some applications, the engines were used to drive a vehicle such as an automobile, truck, van, motor home, etc. while in other applications the engines were used to drive an electric generator that supplied current as a source of electricity to operate, for example, appliances and other types of devices or apparatus needing electricity including air conditioning and electric heating systems, and in other applications the engines were used to operate pumps for agriculture, oil, and other industries.
The cost of the fuel used as an energy source was and is constantly a major consideration in the systems that were used or needed to provide electrical energy, power to drive pumps or power to operate vehicles.
Liquid fuel sources such as gasoline and oil were expensive and/or not reliable as a long term source of energy due to OPEC oil price changes and/or per country oil output limits artificially created by OPEC to create worldwide oil shortages and resulting in increased oil prices for the members of OPEC.
Accordingly, business establishments such as retail malls and other commercial and even non-commercial facilities or units required, for as low a cost as practical, reliable energy sources to drive internal combustion type engines (including even diesel engines), or for powering electric generators used to produce (low cost) electricity, or to operate pumps.
An energy source that is both reliable as a source of energy because of the relative abundance thereof and, because of this relative abundance, relatively low in cost is a vaporous fuel source such as natural gas, propane gas, methane gas, butane gas or any other vaporous fuel or blend thereof. However, in the past, it has been exceedingly difficult to effectively use such a vaporous fuel source for an internal combustion engine. For example, one problem in using a vaporous fuel source as part of a system for generating electricity using an internal combustion engine, was to obtain an efficient mixture of air and the selected vaporous fuel. Another problem was to obtain a very efficient way to deliver the mixture of air and the selected vaporous fuel to the desired portion of the internal combustion engine. A further problem was to find a very efficient conduit or conduits to carry the mixture of air and the selected vaporous fuel which would have optimum length to diameter characteristics to obtain the desired flow of the mixture into the internal combustion engine. A still further problem was to develop and use the mixture of air and the selected vaporous fuel and/or the two components of this mixture at a temperature that enhances the use of this mixture in an internal combustion engine. Still another problem was to find a way to achieve maximum acceleration of the mixture of air and the selected vaporous fuel into the internal combustion engine. Another further problem was to find a way to introduce air (that is to be used for the mixture) substantially turbulent free and in a linear direction for optimum flow and to enhance mixture with a vaporous fuel. Still another problem was to find an optimum way to exhaust out the exhaust gases exiting from the internal combustion engine, cool the exhaust gases for safety reasons or efficiency reasons and to reduce noise generated by the exhaust gases. A still further problem was to generate electricity from a combined system using a vaporous fuel mixture energy source and an internal combustion engine and also to efficiently use the electricity as generated. Still another problem was to find an efficient way to exhaust the unburned fuel and air from a spark ignited internal combustion engine that uses a vaporous fuel. The problem was to find a "tuned" exhaust design that would provide optimum combustion of the fuel and air in the combustion chamber, balance the exhaust flow rate to match the engine requirements, match the exhaust flow rate from each cylinder as closely as possible to each other cylinder in an engine with a plurality of cylinders, reduce the exhaust temperature by creating a greater percentage fuel burn in the combustion chamber and a smaller percentage fuel burn in the exhaust system, and to create a quieter exhaust by restricting the exhaust flow to match the engine requirement.
Still another problem was to find a way to increase the useful life of the internal combustion engine that is using a vaporous fuel mixture.
Therefore, a need existed to provide a combined system and method including a vaporous fuel mixture energy source and an internal combustion engine alone or in combination with an electric generator that would overcome or solve all of the above identified problems.